Better-Bottle PET Carboys – How Do They Compare?

6 Gallon Better Bottle Carboy

We all agree that carboys are a vital part of your wine making equipment. First, it is important to answer the question, “What is a Better-Bottle^® carboy and why is it different from what I see at the water cooler?” As the Better-Bottle^® website tells us Better Bottle carboys are made of special polyethylene terephthalate copolymer (PET) , which is very different from other plastics. These carboys are designed specifically with wine and beer making in mind and the manufacturer has done extensive testing in this capacity. Other plastic bottles have a similar shape, but they are made of either polyethylene & , polyvinyl chloride , polypropylene , polystyrene, or polycarbonate (the plastic made from Bisphenol-A, BPA). There has been a great deal of news coverage about these plastics in the past year or so with respect to their use in re-useable water bottles and their possible hazards. Beyond that these plastics are extremely permeable, as a result they will not keep oxygen from getting to your wine.

The biggest advantage to Better Bottle carboys compared to glass is that they are not breakable. Not only will your wine be safe in it, but you can’t get cut or injured by dropping it. Running a close second has to be the weight. A Better Bottle carboy weighs about 10x less than a glass carboy. That makes it substantially easier to move around without jostling your wine too much. Finally, as we discussed yesterday in our discussion of glass carboys, Better Bottle carboys are less expensive. A 6-gallon Better Bottle carboy can be almost half the cost of a 6-gallon glass carboy.

Tomorrow we will discuss, bungs and stoppers.

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